On her way to the Olympic gold medal, Mizuki Noguchi overtakes Paula Radcliffe. © www.photorun.net

The London Marathon announced that the 2004 Olympic Marathon champion, Mizuki Noguchi, will take to the streets of London next April 22, heading up a strong women’s elite field. Noguchi said, “The Flora London Marathon brings together the highest level athletes. I have decided to go to London because I want the opportunity to test myself against the best athletes in the world.”

Noguchi’s winning time in Berlin in September 2005 of 2:19:12 hours set three records: the Berlin course record, the Japanese record and the Asian record. The mark also made her the third fastest female marathoner of all time.

It appears that London will have ten women with sub-2:23 personal bests. Besides Noguchi, these are Zhou Chunxiu (China/2:19:51), Berhane Adere (Ethiopia/2:20:42), Galina Bogomolova (Russia/2:20:47), Constantina Tomescu-Dita (Romania/2:21:30), Gete Wami (Ethiopia/2:21:34), Susan Chepkemei (Kenya/2:21:46), Lornah Kiplagat (Netherlands/2:22:22), Lyudmila Petrova (Russia/2:22:33) and Benita Johnson (Australia/2:22:36). Zhou recently won the gold medal at the Asian Games marathon, while Adere won this year’s Chicago Marathon, and Wami took Berlin.

Race director David Bedford commented, “We are extremely pleased to have such a strong field in London, including the Olympic champion. I feel this is the most competitive women’s field that has ever been assembled in London, and we are looking forward to witnessing a very exciting race. The women’s race will be run under championship conditions with no male pacemakers.”